This invention relates to antigens, antibodies and antibody-containing compositions for treating human diseases such as Kawasaki disease.
Kawasaki disease which is also designated as acute febrile mucocutaneous-lymphnode-syndrome (hereinafter referred to as MCLS) is a human disease (particularly, up to 3 year old infants) reported in Japan by Kawasaki et al in 1967. Even though MCLS is similar to scarlet fever caused by hemolytic streptocci such as Streptococcus pyogens, MCLS is clearly distinguished from scarlet fever in that MCLS seizes the coronary artery to induce artery aneurysm. The patients of MCLS are sometimes killed by myocardinal infarction. Scarlet fever induces nephritis. Recently, public interst in MCLS has gradually increased with respect to its very high death rate of greater than about 30%. MCLS has also been reported in other countries such as the United States and Korea as well as Japan.
Various etiological factors of MCLS such as, for example, hemolytic streptococci, mites (Acarina), heavy metals, viruses and the like have hitherto been reported. However, none of them is believed to be reasonable.
On the other hand, Streptococcus sanguis is a known oral bacillus which produce water-soluble and insoluble dextran-like polysaccharides from sucrose. Although its acid production is similar to that of S. mutans, S. sanguis is distinguished from S. mutans due to the fact that S. sanguis decomposes sorbitol and mannitol and that the cariogenic potential of S. sanguis is very weak in comparison with the cariogenic potential of S. mutans.